Diver dies during Bayesian superyacht salvage operation
Bayesian photographed in Milazzo Harbor; Sicily. before the accident. Image courtesy of Sfische via Wikimedia.
A Dutch diver who was working on preliminary operations to raise the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s sunken superyacht, Bayesian, has died during underwater work off Sicily.
The Dutchman, 39, died on Friday while working on the tech tycoon’s sunken superyacht underwater. The cause of the diver’s death is still unconfirmed.
According to Italian news agency, AGI, the man may have been hit by a piece of metal as divers were cutting the boom from the wreck of the Bayesian.
The 184ft Bayesian British-flagged superyacht was moored off the small port of Porticello, near Palermo, in August 2024 when it was hit by severe weather and sunk approximately 0.8 nautical miles off the coast, killing seven people, including Lynch and his daughter Hannah.
Bayesian superyacht recovery operation
The salvage operation is being led by TMC Marine, a UK-based consultancy, working on behalf of Bayesian’s insurer, British Marine. The salvage work is being carried out by a consortium of companies including Dutch companies Hebo Maritiemservice and Smit Salvage, both veterans of high-profile recoveries including the Ever Given in the Suez Canal and the Costa Concordia.
It is understood that the Dutch diver worked for Hebo. Salvage work on the Bayesian wreck has been suspended.
“This pause in activity is necessary for the investigations to be completed and to allow all salvage and associated teams to mourn the tragic loss of a highly respected salvage diver during yesterday’s underwater work,” TMC Marine said in a statement.
The attempt to lift the yacht off the seabed, as requested by Italian prosecutors, had been scheduled to take place in mid May, with full clearance of the seabed and debris expected by the end of the month.
Sicilian prosecutors are treating the Bayesian sinking as a suspected case of manslaughter and negligent shipwreck. Three crew members, including New Zealand-born Captain James Cutfield and two British nationals, Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths, are under investigation.
The hull will provide crucial evidentiary material related to the cause of the sinking.
The total cost of the salvage operation is estimated at $30 million (£22.5 million), fully funded by the yacht’s insurers.
UK intelligence conducts ‘covert’ mission to recover files: report
New reports claim that UK intelligence agency MI6 reportedly conducted a covert operation to retrieve sensitive files from the sunken superyacht Bayesian before Italian divers could access the wreck.
The documents, understood to have been stored in waterproof safes aboard the vessel, were linked to Lynch’s cybersecurity firm Darktrace, which has connections to UK, US and Israeli intelligence services.
Lynch, who was a key figure in British intelligence circles and offered advice on science and cybersecurity to two Prime Ministers, reportedly distrusted cloud storage and kept encrypted data on board his yacht, according to CNN.
Italian authorities, unaware of the British operation, had ordered increased security around the site before the salvage operation began, but MI6 is believed to have already recovered encrypted hard drives and devices containing classified intelligence data, according to reports in outlets including the New York Post.
